Hardware and Software

We have set up the Summerlands to be as user friendly as possible. Obviously, the faster your computer and the more memory, bells and whistles, etc. you have - the better able you will be to fully enjoy The Summerlands. However, anyone with a computer which is web capable should be able to access anything we have up on the boards.

We're making the following recommendations for your software and services.

  • Hardware:  More is definitely better
  • Browser:  Internet Explorer 4.0 (or higher)
  • ISP (we recommend Mindspring)
  • IRC software (pIRCh for PC and IRCle for Macs recommended)
  • Online locator software (we recommend Excite's PAL)

Hardware:
The Summerlands is a pretty graphic intensive site (no matter how much we endeavour to streamline the graphics).  We recommend (at a minimum) a 486 with at least 16 Meg of Memory and 75mHz run speed.  Also, a 28.8 modem.  Don't worry if you dont have that.  That's just the 'recommended' minimum daily allowance <G>.   If you are running with a slower modem or older machine with less memory and slower run times, you really might consider turning off your graphics.  We've backed up all the graphic links with text, so you should be able to get around ok ... just not enjoy all the pretties we've stocked the site with.

Browsers:
That said, we STRONGLY RECOMMEND using MS Internet Explorer (preferably 4.0 or higher).   As much as we strove for cross-platform intercompatibility, the fact is that this is a MS Front Page site and some browsers make the screens look really bizarre (or don't open them at all).  We've checked it out on mac and pc using NN3.0 and IE 3.0 and 4.0 and they seem to be alright.  But NN4.0 gives us fits.  We're still working on it, but the recommendation for IE4.0 still stands as of right now.

ISP - Mindspring
You can reach Mindspring by dialing 1-800-719-4332 or by going to their website at http://www.mindspring.com.  If you do choose them as your internet service provider, please tell them that you were referred by summerlands.com.  We receive $10 credit for every new isp account.  Thanks.

IRC software
We covered this in the other section, but you can download the IRC and PAL software from the "chatting link"   in the general information section at The Crossroads. 

PAL/ICQ
We've been recommending PAL (Excite's Personal Locator Software) to our members as a way of seeing who is online and setting up a quickie chat with them (on the fly as it were).   We chose PAL because of it's less complicated structure and fewer users and fewer crashes. Also, because it uses the individuals email address rather than some number that they have to remember.

We've recently been experiencing tech problems with PAL however, and are looking into using ICQ.  I'll amend this section when I have more data for you.